More than 50 organisations and some 1,000 people from over dozen countries have gathered outside the UN headquarters in Geneva to protest against the recent report on last summer's war in Gaza.
The United Nations Human Rights Council report, which was published last week and presented today , said that both Israel and Hamas may have committed war crimes during the conflict. Many supporters of Israel have rejected this report as another anti-Israel report from the UN and for comparing the IDF to Hamas.
The rally is being covered live on Twitter using the hashtag at #ForIsrael.
Education Minister Naftali Bennett said last week that the report was “born in sin and will be buried in shame. This report has blood on its hands, allows Jews to be killed, ties the IDF’s hands from protecting us”.
The US government backed Israel’s reaction to the report, with State Department spokesman John Kirby reportedly stating that the US “challenges the very foundation upon which this report was written.”
In his speech at the rally, World Jewish Congress CEO Robert Singer said: “The reason we are here today is to tell the United Nations that it needs to change. It needs to overcome its obsession with Israel. This obsession is destructive and it stands in the way of an effective human rights policy that is so badly needed. "That’s because blaming Israel for every woe has become a sport. Not just here at the U.N., but here especially.”Live tweets include:
Anne Argi, leader of Swiss #Jewish community@at #ForIsrael Rally at @UN in Geneva: "Without #Israel we are nothing." pic.twitter.com/PrViPvztss
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) June 29, 2015
.@COLRICHARDKEMP at rally #ForIsrael in Geneva, protesting against @UN_HRC's biased report on the #Gaza 2014 conflict pic.twitter.com/ncdyj69pLg
— Israel Foreign Min. (@IsraelMFA) June 29, 2015
Hundreds say #rethinkUN enough of the bias, enough of #item7 #forIsrael pic.twitter.com/txs35P0vD4
— WUJS (@JewishStudents) June 29, 2015
There are >50 organizations from over dozen countries here at #ForIsrael Rally outside @UN Headquarters in #Geneva! pic.twitter.com/8S4G9pw0NY
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) June 29, 2015
